Our Advisory Board consists of the following group of academic scholars, mental health practitioners, NGO professionals, and Rwandan community partners:
Jonathan Adler –
Jonathan is an Assistant Professor at Olin College of Engineering in Needham, Massachusetts in the United States. Jonathan’s research focuses on the interface between adult identity development and clinical psychology. His research revolves around the ways that people make sense of the difficult things that happen to them and how that personal meaning leads to changes in physical and mental health, personality maturity, and the process and outcome of psychotherapy treatment.
http://sites.google.com/site/jonathanmadler/home
Laura Blackie –
Laura Blackie is Assistant Professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Nottingham. Laura received her PhD in psychology from the University of Essex and then spent three years as a postdoctoral fellow at Wake Forest University in the United States and worked as Research Fellow for the Rwandan Stories of Change project. Laura’s research is at the intersection of social and lifespan psychology, and investigates how individuals adjust and find meaning from adverse experiences. Laura has investigated this topic in relation to how individuals react when reminded of their mortality (doctoral thesis), and the expression of post-traumatic growth following highly challenging and traumatic life experiences (post-doctoral research).
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/psychology/people/laura.blackie
Phil Clark –
Phil Clark is Reader in Comparative and International Politics, with reference to Africa. Phil is a political scientist specialising in conflict and post-conflict issues in Africa, particularly questions of peace, truth, justice and reconciliation. His research addresses the history and politics of the African Great Lakes, focusing on causes of and responses to genocide and other forms of mass violence. His work also explores the theory and practice of transitional justice, with particular emphasis on community-based approaches to accountability and reconciliation and the law and politics of the International Criminal Court. Phil is Head of the Aegis Trust’s Research, Higher Education and Policy Programme.
http://www.soas.ac.uk/staff/staff58977.php
Amdani Juma –
Amdani is one of the founding members of the National Association of the Rwandan Communities in the United Kingdom (NARC-UK), which is the body that represents Rwandan communities. He has also been the Director of Public Relations & Communications for the organisation since October 2015.
Dan McAdams –
Dan is Professor of Human Development and Social Policy at Northwestern University in Illinois in the United States. Dan’s research interests focus on narrative psychology and the development of the life story as model of human identity. Dan is a leading expert in the empirical study of the development of generativity and redemption during adulthood. Dan has published widely on these topics in leading psychological journals, and authored The Redemptive Self: Stories Americans Live By.
http://www.psychology.northwestern.edu/people/faculty/core/profiles/dan-mcadams.html
http://www.sesp.northwestern.edu/foley/
Steve Regel –
Steve is Director of the Centre for Trauma, Resilience and Growth, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, Honorary Professor in the School of Education, University of Nottingham and a Senior Fellow of the Institute of Mental Health, Nottingham. He has over 30 years’ experience working with trauma and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). He is on the Board of Overseers of the Children and War Foundation, principal advisor on psychological and family support for Hostage UK and a Trustee of Escaping Victimhood. He was appointed an OBE in 2013 for services to victims of trauma.
James Smith –
James is co-founder of the UK National Holocaust Centre along with his brother Stephen and parents. He co-founded the Aegis Trust in 2000 and remains the Chief Executive Officer. In 2002 he staged the first major international conference on genocide prevention with the UK Foreign Office (held at The Holocaust Centre). In 2004, working with the Rwandan Government and Kigali City Council, he played a key role in establishing the Kigali Genocide Memorial in Rwanda’s capital.
http://www.aegistrust.org/index.php/Who-we-are/who-we-are.html
Caroline Williamson –
Caroline received her PhD from the University of Nottingham working with Nicki Hitchcott. Her PhD thesis was titled “Post-traumatic identities: Developing a culturally informed understanding of post-traumatic growth in Rwandan women genocide survivors.” Caroline is a lecturer at University College Cork.
http://research.ucc.ie/profiles/A015/carolinewilliamson
Every six months we report progress on the project to our advisory board. Those reports are available to read here:
Interim Report to Advisory Board June 2016
Interim report for Advisory Board Dec 2016
Interim report for Advisory Board June 2017